[Montezuma58]

Have you ever been on jury duty? I have been once a few years ago. I was only seated one jury. The case was rather lame, almost like something that belonged on Judge Judy. The trial lasted only about two hours and we found in favor of the defendant who acatually represented himself. I never did get on the jury for any interesting cases. I was on the panel for a robery case but was struck. I was also on the panel for a medical malpractice suit but the whole panel was dismissed because the plantiff's lawyer screwed up. I think he did that on purpose because he did not like who he had to choose from for jurors. I could tell the judge was not very happy. All in all I was at the courthouse for 4 days and spent about 3 hours actually doing something jury related.

[nonhuman]

I want to be on jury duty. Law is a field that I might actually want to go into after college. I was actually selected once, but was selected in California when I live in Minnesota 8 months out of the year or so. Stupid government...

[LeftWingLock]

I've been called for jury duty twice but have never had to actually serve. The first time the defendant did not show up for court and the case was continued. The second time they accepted the first 6 people for the jury and sent the rest of us home.

[nonhuman]

Originally posted by LeftWingLock:
I've been called for jury duty twice but have never had to actually serve. The first time the defendant did not show up for court and the case was continued. The second time they accepted the first 6 people for the jury and sent the rest of us home.

6 people?

[Timo]

It's because of jury duty that I was downtown at the courts on the morning of September 11th, last year.

After the towers were attackted there were officers with automatic weapons outside the courthouses, motioning us away. "No jury duty today, come back tomorrow." Of course, after the towers fell there was no jury duty for quite awhile.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Sat on a jury twice.

First time, Aggravated Assault case, -hung jury by one guilty vote (not mine), 11 not-guilty. (Had I been the foreman on this case I would have kept the jury deliberating until either; a. the cows came home or b. an actual verdict was reached.)

Second time, Defendant was charged with Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault and Car Jacking - I severed as the jury foreman- had to hold the jury in deliberations for 2 extra days to avoid a hang (basically myself and 9 others convincing two stubborn jurors to reach a verdict based on the the court's instructions, not based on a bias they both had.) -found the defendant not-guilty.

Both times the prosecution was asleep at the wheel and failed to prove their case. The second trial in particular- the guy probably did it, but the prosecutor left so many holes in the case it was impossible to convict.

Serving on a Jury is a great experience. I hate the idea of shirking the responsibility. I�ll gladly serve again next time it comes up.

[nana4]

Jury nullification is a wonderful thing. It is your chance to decide which laws you feel are just or unjust. Your future is in your hands.

[LeftWingLock]

Originally posted by nonhuman:
6 people?

For some reason they just used 6 people for the jury. All I know is that I was home by 10:00 and had the rest of the day off

[Tigerabbit]

The concept of facing a jury would worry me if I were a defendant. My future is about to be decided by people who aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty?!?!

[cpt kangarooski]

It isn't unusal to see a jury that doesn't have 12 jurors. For very many cases, the number is not standardized, and the states can approach it differently.

I've been called once, but the state hadn't noted that I had moved away some time earlier. I'd like to be a juror at some point, but I'm not sure that I'd be a likely candidate, as I'm a law student and might have a tough time limiting myself to the law as it is presented to the jury.

[Montezuma58]

Originally posted by cpt kangarooski:
I'd like to be a juror at some point, but I'm not sure that I'd be a likely candidate, as I'm a law student and might have a tough time limiting myself to the law as it is presented to the jury.

You would be one of the first people struck. My sister is a lawyer and said that generally the lawyers want the least educated people they can get on juries because they are easier to manipulate and more likely to be persuaded by emotional arguments rather than logically applying the law to what is presented in trial. Lawyers hate having engineers on juries for the opposite reason.

I have known several other engineers (there are a bunch of them where I live) that have been on jury duty but were never selected to sit on a trial. There was one engineer that I know that was on a capital murder case. The trial had been delayed from the begining of the week. By the time that it started the majority of potential jurors left were engineers.

[BrunoBruin]

I was on a jury for a civil case; we heard arguments for three days and deliberated for five minutes. The only interesting part was one of the witnesses, who was right out of "My Cousin Vinny." She would not stop talking, despite the judge's numerous warnings. I sat there terrified they were going to have to declare a mistrial because of the things she said and all that time would be wasted.

[MacGorilla]

Last year I sat on a jury in a civil case. It lasted 5 days. A woman was complaining that a truck sent her car into a spin, injurying her back. It was her and her boyfriend as witnesses, while the defendants tried to prove her injuries were pre existing. It was very profound, sitting on a jury. The judge and all the court staff treated us great. I would do it again tomorrow if they would let me.

We did find for the lady because of a preponderance of evidence, that is, whoever has the most credible evidence wins. Her boyfriend was a total dufus but she was convincing enough, as was her chiropractor.

[docbud]

If you want to get out of jury duty: this might work:

(while you are being questioned/quizzed by the prosecution and defense lawyers during the selection process)

Jump up and shout "I'm Batman and that guy over there is my archrival {insert name}."

Demand that the baliffs contact Alfred while they drag you from the courtroom...

[Nimisys]

been called but never actually sat

i was assigned to a courtroom at 11:30, told i could go get lunch and to retrun at 1:30, where we were suppose to sit outside the courtroom. problem was they led the prosecution/defendents in while we were waiting ouside in the hallway (it was for a civil case)and somebaody said somehtin under their breathe, but they felt we had heard it so they switched us with another courtrooms pool, and then that new case was settled out of court. so i was sent home, and have to wait at least 2 more years

[scaught]

Originally posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE:

Serving on a Jury is a great experience. I hate the idea of shirking the responsibility. I�ll gladly serve again next time it comes up.

great post crash.

i completely agree. i went to serve jury duty once, and was selected to sit, but was "excused" when the prosecuting attorney asked people if they could place a charge of "guilty" based on the word of one person against another. i decided i couldnt. he didnt care to hear any reasoning, he just excused me. i wasnt trying to get out of it, and was actually sort of interested in the whole thing - what the hell, work covers the absence and you get some crappy stipend for serving. its a good experience for sure.

[BTP]

I arrived for jury duty, prepared for hours of boredom, but it never came.

Only 15 minutes after arriving, I was in a jury pool and not much later, I was picked as one of 3 men on a 12 person jury.

In just over an hour of arriving, I was sitting in the jury box and getting ready to hear a case. It was really quite intersting, it was in the Old Courthouse in Boston and really felt like a courtroom with the church-like acoustics and worn wood and marble floors. This is what you expect a courtroom to look like.

The dozen of us are sitting quietly while the preparations are made to begin the trial, people at different table speaking in hushed tones and the clerk sorting what seemed like reams of papers. We sat in silence until people began to form up and then we heard "All Rise!", the jusdge entered and court was proclaimed to be in session. Let me tell you, this was serious. The defendant was in the room with his defence attorney and I could not help it, but I played a game, trying to imagine what he had done.

If I was not serious about my duty when I arrived, I was now extremely serious and decided that I shouldn't play such a stupid game, as it may prejudice me against the defendant. He was an older man, looked to be in his 50's, but he was actaully several years younger. The gallery was mostly full and it seemed there was some interest in this case or a lot of people had nothing better to do than go and sit in on court porceedings.

I nothinged the defendant looking, overwhelmed, I guess would be the word. Wide-eyed, with his shoulders a bit hunched and head a bit closer to him chest. He reminded me of that look a dog give you when they think they are about to be struck.

This was all happening as formal precedures were going on between the judge and the lawyers, and not too mcuh later, the trial then began. When the charges were read and the prosecutor gave the story complete with details, I was shocked.

He was high, stole a car, went to his ex-girlfriend's house and kidnapped her at gunpoint. He then drove around with in the car pointing the gun at her and at some point, he bit her deeply and took away skin. Some observant person noticed what was happening in the car and called police. Police chased him, she was able to get out of the car, but not before being shot, and he then decided to fire at the police. They shot back, wounding him and taking him into custody. To top it off a news helicopter caught some part of this on camera.

I thought to myself, this guy is f***ed, no matter if I keep an open mind or not, everyone else seemed to shrink a bit when the prosecutor's opening statement was made and I think the coup-de-gras was that a substantial portion of the crime was on videotape.

As I prepared to keep an open mind and hold off any judgement until it was called for, the defense council asked for a a minute. Shortly after that, he arose with the defendant and decided that he would change his plea to guilty. So now, just over 2 hours into my day, the case was over. He elocuted right there and was carted off. We were taken off into a room at told to wait for the judge. He came in much later and took the time to speak with us, answering questions and explaining our civic duty. I really liked that judge, as long as my only contact was not as a defendant, I guess. He took the time to explain a lot of how the system works and why serving on the jury is important. That was the first and last time I served on a jury, but I have my doubts if I will ever have such an interesting experience again.

[driven]

I served on the Jury during the start of the ground war in "Operation Dessert Storm."

It was ideal because I got to watch CNN all day.

[wataru]

Originally posted by driven:
I served on the Jury during the start of the ground war in "Operation Dessert Storm."

That was one of the most delicious wars in American history